Getting to Know Netpicks: Brian Short

Mark: Brian, tell me a little bit about your background and how you got started in trading?

Brian: Thanks Mark, I got started about 25 years ago. At that point, I would have called myself a buy and hold trader. That was in the mid- 1980’s and early 1990’s where I would basically take the recommendation of my broker and act on it. That worked well for the 1990’s.

As we know now, that market simply went straight up and you couldn’t do anything wrong. That was my first exposure to trading. Towards the end of the 1990’s and early 2000’s, this mechanism broke. I took a pretty good hit, but didn’t lose everything I made through the 1990’s. However, it caused me to take a step back. I realized I wanted to take control of my trading. That’s when I began to search for a way to do intraday trading to be a little more active.

I began to look for different services and packages that taught strategies, which is when I came upon NetPicks. I was a subscriber to the NetPicks service for a number of years utilizing their strategies.

I’ve been an active intraday trader ever since. I have traded forex for many years and currently I am more active in the future’s market trading crude oil.

Mark: What would you see as your biggest challenge in your personal trading? Furthermore, since you also manage and support the coaching team at NetPicks, what do you see as the biggest challenge that individual traders run into when they are trading?

Brian: My biggest challenge in my own personal trading is distractions. Running a business here at NetPicks can sometimes cause me to get distracted. Often it’s either an email or a phone call from a customer, so I have to constantly remind myself not to get involved in those distractions.

Overall, I feel that all traders have the exact same issue. Distractions come into play. Trade psychology is also an issue. You need to understand what it means to take heat on a trade. In other words, how not to freak out and still be able to take action on your trade plan.

Although overall, I’d have to say the biggest problem I hear about from traders is risk management. They just sometimes over-leverage themselves when they are trading. It is definitely a challenge that needs to be overcome especially by new traders.

Mark: So you are advising traders to minimize their distractions by turning off phones, turning off email, turning off facebook, and closing your door?

Brian: Yes. Exactly. Distractions could be your wife or child coming in when you are in the middle of a trade and they want your attention. It just takes a split second for your attention to be broken and your trade results lost. Focus on your trading for the time period you are going to trade and turn off all other distractions.

Mark: I know in my personal trading, for several years, I would watch CNBC. It was always good company when you were trading. I found that, over time, I would let it influence my decisions. I came to realize this was one of the worst things I could do. I would be paying so much attention to the TV that I was not acting on what was in the charts.

We always say our systems are “WYSIWYT”, or “What You See Is What You Trade.” I think what you are trying to say is that you need to focus and execute what is setting up on the chart as the system shows you.

Brian: Yes.

Mark: As far as some of the best things about trading – Why do you trade? What do you enjoy about it? What motivates you everyday to get up and fight the markets?

Brian: I enjoy getting up! I’m anxious and excited every day. I like the challenge of taking a strategy and applying that strategy to a market. I also thrive on the challenges that go with executing the trades. The final result is being profitable after executing everything as per your trade plan. It is a full process and I really enjoy it. I’m not going to say there aren’t times I feel concerned or feel that heat and stress when a trade goes against you. I do!

However, I think, over the years, as you gain more experience, you get immune to that. You stay neutral in your emotions and work your way through it. That is what I enjoy about trading. As you have said Mark, trading is the biggest mind tease in the world. It’s fun to try and figure that out. Both with a strategy and looking back at myself and working through the issues a normal trader will have. Normal traders have issues with trade psychology. The same is true of me.

Mark: I agree. People do need to give themselves some time to work through those trade psychology issues. We’ve had years of experience and sometimes, for us, it doesn’t take that long to get to the point of mastery. Our advice to new traders is to give yourself some time to get there.

Another question we always get from new traders is about day traders. They want to know what the best markets are for day trading right now. Where is the best volatility, the best activity, etc? Could you explain to us what is happening in day trading?

Brian: I know there is alot of volatility in the forex market. It’s not my personal preference, but I know many traders are doing well there. They’ve had good success in that market. I think part of it has to do with the time you want to trade. The best times to trade the forex is during the European sessions. That is 1:00am to 5:00am Eastern Standard Time (EST).

My favorite market right now where we are seeing plenty of activity is crude oil. It is a market I trade each and every day. I trade gold on occasion. I see good movement there. Natural gas has good movement as well. I also trade some of the equity indexes like the DOW or Russell. Not quite as much activity, but still good markets to consider for your own trading.

My personal favorite for the moment is crude oil. I look to trade that from 9:00am to 11:00am. I only give myself those 2 hours, so I limit the amount I am trading each day. Then I get on with the rest of the day like running NetPicks. However, if you like golf or something else, you can move on with that part of your day.

Mark: I think, for those trading forex, obviously the pairs talked about the most for day trading on forex are the GBPUSD, EURUSD, and we do have successful pairs in the Asian section with EURJPY. Those tend to be the narrower spreads.

They also mentioned several other future’s markets. You can branch out into stocks and other markets as well. There’s plenty of opportunity for everybody.

Let’s talk about system strategies. I know I have picked-up many over the years. I have shelves full of the stuff. I haven’t grabbed very many over the recent years except when I am curious about seeing what someone else has done.

Brian what would you say sets NetPicks apart? What are the top 2 things about our strategies, our training, and our courses that we offer? What really differentiates NetPicks in your opinion?

Brian: The biggest thing that sets us apart is our caring for those members that decide to purchase our products. It doesn’t end with you receiving a box. We give you support in several ways. One is through training sessions that you can attend. We also have coaching staff you can contact that are experienced traders. I am here taking phone calls every day. We keep in contact with our clients. We are here to offer our experience to those who are new to trading or are intermediate. We even work with advanced traders.

We are here to be the coach that can help keep you in check and headed in the right direction. That is number one. Number two is we have strategies that help get you an edge in the market, which is key. There might be other strategies out there but we have looked at tons of them and I just feel very comfortable knowing our strategies are top of the line. They are not going to win every time, but they give you the edge you need to be successful.